Bravo Fessner !!! You can certainly do this. The biggest hurdle is getting over fear. You will gain more confidence with each step and it is sooo empowering.
Be proud of your accomplishments and don't let the skeptics get to you. If THEY can do it, so can you.
There is a ton of really knowledgeable folks around here that you can lean on.
Like Ironlight said, Check out Snav's posts...she has little ones and shes doing amazing stuff
You are giving your kids a very powerful message and thats awesome!!!

Snav where are you! Fessner, if you think gender is any impediment you should check out Snav's thread on her renovations to her home. Lately she's been building kitchen cabinets from scratch with limited tools and making them look fantastic. She's an inspiration.

I was not saying that being a female is an impediment I was just stating the fact that recently I have had male "professionals" trying to convince me that a "girl" could not complete any of the projects I consulted them for. I was looking for advice and quotes and they pretty much insulted my intelligence.

I am also wondering what do you think about leaving the exposed brick? What about re framing to the 3ft knee walls so I can use the extra space where those 10 ft walls are. I need to get it cleaned up a bit and take more pics. I work full time plus raising 4kids and a husband lol. My husband thinks I am nuts and wants to hire out for everything, but I know I can do a lot of it for a lot cheaper. Also he refuses to work on any project with me because he says it will lead to divorce. He must know, he just stays out of the way and then is completely blown away with completed projects. Not that he has no faith he just underestimates my bullheadedness. When I finally set my mind to something I will complete it, I just have a very hard time making up my mind.

[quote
I have had male "professionals" trying to convince me that a "girl" could not complete any of the projects I consulted them for. I was looking for advice and quotes and they pretty much insulted my intelligence.[/quote]

Good luck getting away from that kind of thinking...its rampant. Just don't let it get to you. I'm also a woman with little ones.

Sincerely speaking though, for the greater part, the men around here do not have sexist attitudes.

Ironlight are you saying put in a pull down staincase to get above the "new" attic?

You will need access to your attic in some way as fire code calls for it. But if you plan to have AC components in the attic it would sure be nice to have a pull down for the ease of getting equipment up and down.